Put samples on SSD or HDD (internal vs external)?

[EvilDragon]

Even better - separate SSDs for OS and sample libraries. Win-win.

(Except it's a loss for the wallet, oh boy... )

[mkdr]

Even better - separate SSDs for OS and sample libraries. Win-win.

(Except it's a loss for the wallet, oh boy... )

If it's SATA it's still cheaper than a single Thunderbolt drive

[EvilDragon]

True!

[Shabdahbriah]

Even better - separate SSDs for OS and sample libraries. Win-win.

(Except it's a loss for the wallet, oh boy... )

If it's SATA it's still cheaper than a single Thunderbolt drive

I haven't paid any attention to Thunderbolt, as it was Mac only according to Apples 1-year agreement with Intel, but NOW:



I VelociRaptors

Still rediculously expensive at present, but has potential, certainly.

[mkdr]

Even better - separate SSDs for OS and sample libraries. Win-win.

(Except it's a loss for the wallet, oh boy... )

If it's SATA it's still cheaper than a single Thunderbolt drive

I haven't paid any attention to Thunderbolt, as it was Mac only according to Apples 1-year agreement with Intel, but NOW:



I VelociRaptors

Still rediculously expensive at present, but has potential, certainly.

I had to go and have a look.

Is this a joke? 1000$ for a 2TB drive with 400mb/s PEAK read speed. My 99$ 2TB usb3 drive peaks at 120mb/s. So a tenth for the same space..

And you are not getting a 1000$ worth of performance. Regular HD's totally SUCK at seek times, which then makes the random read and writes really slow. For example Techcrunch tested the Velociraptor duo and "In Raid 0, we could measure 352.3 MB/s and 374.1 MB/s respectively for writing and reading large files. Yet, dealing with a lot of small files was much slower with 13.2 MB/s for random writing."

13.2 MB/s

Thats Usb-stick speed folks..

If you need real performance go for an SSD. You can get plenty with 1000$. Regular magnetic spinning HD is only good for storage and regular use.

[mkdr]

For a 1000$ investment in performance consider something like this instead:

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-Re ... pd_cp_pc_2


1 TB of 1500 MB/S SSD should give you more for your money than the WD's Thunderbolt joke.

[stikygum]

My personal preference would to put the OS on the SSD, and use a faster HDD for the sample libraries. The OS will benefit greatly from being on the SSD. Opening time for apps and plugins will be significantly improved.

Do you feel that way because you're saying OS and apps are being used more often?

If you notice any sample libraries performing poorly, move them to the SSD and leave the HDD for less frequently used libs.

Is it OK (not many performance issues to worry about) to put all your samples on the same drive with the OS/apps if the hard drive is an SSD?

Is that what you do, move your less frequently used sample libraries to one of your weaker hard drives?

[Shabdahbriah]

For a 1000$ investment in performance consider something like this instead:

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-Re ... pd_cp_pc_2


1 TB of 1500 MB/S SSD should give you more for your money than the WD's Thunderbolt joke.

Ooooh I totally agree, thanks.

def was a time when I would have been all over that!!!

Now is not that time. The WD thing was more a flashback to using outboard SCSI-RAID boxes, which I needed then. Still using (pre-SSD) WD Velo's for some sample storage, and even the old (first generation) 36GB WD Velo's have found a place as my 'page-file' on 4 machines, though.

I am a speed/OC'r freak.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Do you feel that way because you're saying OS and apps are being used more often?

Yes. With SSD for the system disk the OS runs like it should - fast and snappy, and doesn't seem to suffer from much slow down after 1.5 years of use. It has slowed a little (2011 MBP running OS 10.6.8 ) but not nearly as much as the same system would using a mechanical HDD.

Of course this depends on your priorities, but the other major benefit is the silent operation. No more disk grinding while apps load or memory is paged. Having 8 GB or more RAM helps too.

is it OK (not many performance issues to worry about) to put all your samples on the same drive with the OS/apps if the hard drive is an SSD?

I think it would be fine to put some of the sample libs on the system disk, but with OS X ("Unix") you typically want to keep a good portion of the system disk free. Some people recommend 50% but I think that's a bit OTT, so I aim to keep around 30% free at a minimum.

Is that what you do, move your less frequently used sample libraries to one of your weaker hard drives?

Yes, but I just ran a quick test to see what the difference in performance would be. Testing on a 2009 Mac Pro so not the fastest of disk access due to being a generation behind the current SATA II motherboards.

Orange Tree Samples Jaco Bass normally loads from an internal HDD. Double-clicking the HDD based .NKI file takes around 20 seconds for Kontakt 4 + the 600 MB instrument to finish loading.

Reboot to clear out file / RAM caching. Copy the full set of OTS files to the system SSD. Double-clicking the .NKI file takes around 8 seconds to load K4 + instrument.

A fairly crude test, but it highlights a significant difference in I/O performance.

Peace,
Andy.

[stikygum]

Thanks for the info Zen! I think I've decided what I'm going to do. Being that my previous MBP slowed a lot, I'm going to avoid that this time and put the OS on an SSD. And I'm thinking about buying a 2nd 256GB for samples. I'm trying to decide on whether I'm going to eat up a lot of space soon with samples and projects or not. I may go with a 750 HHD though for the 2nd drive though since it gives me more room.

For those interested in Thunderbolt, here's a good article on why Thunderbolt probably isn't worth it:

http://blog.macsales.com/14743-for-most ... -for-speed

I've never got into Raid and don't know if it even would work for a MBP laptop. Was thinking it's just a for towers.

[Shabdahbriah]

For those interested in Thunderbolt, here's a good article on why Thunderbolt probably isn't worth it:

http://blog.macsales.com/14743-for-most ... -for-speed

Interesting, thanks

In other words, it doesn't matter that you're on the Autobahn if you're driving a Volkswagon Bus; you're just not going to be enjoying the full speeds traveling that route promises

... Indeed.

[o0Ampy0o]

My personal preference would to put the OS on the SSD.......Opening time for apps and plugins will be significantly improved.

How often do you open apps and plug-ins compared to streaming samples when working?

People make a big deal about this because it is visual evidence of increased speed yet it is not something you continually experience a benefit from.

The weakest link is steaming so boosting that will provide the most gain if you cannot replace everything with SSD's.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Sorry for the delay - was away from computer for 2 weeks ...

How often do you open apps and plug-ins compared to streaming samples when working?

I am opening and closing apps + plugins, using archive utilities and performing other disk intensive tasks very frequently.

Still, I think having SSD for the system disk is important for the reasons stated above - silent disk operation, better OS + app performance.

People make a big deal about this because it is visual evidence of increased speed yet it is not something you continually experience a benefit from.

Not sure what you mean. I have SSD installed in several different systems - performance is excellent, and that has not changed since the day the SSDs were installed.

Updating to SSD for the system disk has been one of the best computer performance boosts I've ever experienced. It really is that good.

The weakest link is steaming so boosting that will provide the most gain if you cannot replace everything with SSD's.

Some users will be more concerned with loading large sample libraries quickly, which is fair enough. The obvious solution is SSD for both if possible.

Peace,
Andy.

[k3ith]

USB3 is more than enough... Install your OS and programs onto your SSD and just install your libraries and samples over onto a USB3 drive.

[whyterabbyt]

USB3 is more than enough... Install your OS and programs onto your SSD and just install your libraries and samples over onto a USB3 drive.

Because the drive itself doesnt matter, as long as the interface is USB3. Yay for 5400rpm drives with a fancy cable, much better than yer SSD any day of the week.